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Revelation

About this book
Chapter 9

1 Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the abyss. 2 He opened the shaft of the abyss and smoke rose out of it like smoke from a giant furnace. The sun and the air were darkened with smoke from the shaft.⁠ 3 Then out of the smoke came locusts onto the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth.⁠ 4 They were told not to damage the grass of the earth, or any green plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their forehead.⁠ 5 The locusts were not given permission to kill them, but only to torture them for five months, and their torture was like that of a scorpion when it stings a person. 6 In those days people will seek death, but will not be able to find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.⁠ 7 Now the locusts looked like horses equipped for battle. On their heads were something like crowns similar to gold, and their faces looked like men’s faces.⁠ 8 They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9 They had breastplates like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings was like the noise of many horse-drawn chariots charging into battle. 10 They have tails and stingers like scorpions, and their ability to injure people for five months is in their tails. 11 They have as king over them the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.⁠ 12 The first woe has passed, but two woes are still coming after these things! 13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a single voice coming from the horns on the golden altar that is before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel, the one holding the trumpet, “Set free the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates!”⁠ 15 Then the four angels who had been prepared for this hour, day, month, and year were set free to kill a third of humanity. 16 The number of soldiers on horseback was 200,000,000; I heard their number. 17 Now this is what the horses and their riders looked like in my vision: The riders had breastplates that were fiery red, dark blue, and sulfurous yellow in color. The heads of the horses looked like lions’ heads, and fire, smoke, and sulfur came out of their mouths. 18 A third of humanity was killed by these three plagues, that is, by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur that came out of their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses resides in their mouths and in their tails because their tails are like snakes, having heads that inflict injuries. 20 The rest of humanity, who had not been killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands so that they did not stop worshiping demons and idols⁠ made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols⁠ that cannot see or hear or walk about.⁠ 21 Furthermore, they did not repent of their murders, of their magic spells, of their sexual immorality, or of their stealing.

Texts in conversation

Compare Ezekiel 9:4 and Revelation 9:4

Hebrew Bible · New Testament

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Summary

Revelation’s description of a mark placed on the forehead of those who are protected echoes Ezekiel’s description of those in Jerusalem who will be spared from destruction. In Ezekiel, the mark separates the mourners from the corrupt city around them.

Passages

Ezekiel 9:4

Hebrew Bible
2 Next I noticed six men coming from the direction of the upper gate that faces north, each with his war club in his hand. Among them was a man dressed in linen with a writing kit at his side. They came and stood beside the bronze altar. 3 Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub where it had rested to the threshold of the temple. He called to the man dressed in linen who had the writing kit at his side. 4 The Lord said to him, “Go through the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of the people who moan and groan over all the abominations practiced in it.” 5 While I listened, he said to the others, “Go through the city after him and strike people down; do not let your eye pity nor spare anyone! 6 Old men, young men, young women, little children, and women—wipe them out! But do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary!” So they began with the elders who were at the front of the temple.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

Revelation 9:4

New Testament
1 Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the abyss. 2 He opened the shaft of the abyss and smoke rose out of it like smoke from a giant furnace. The sun and the air were darkened with smoke from the shaft. 3 Then out of the smoke came locusts onto the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to damage the grass of the earth, or any green plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their forehead. 5 The locusts were not given permission to kill them, but only to torture them for five months, and their torture was like that of a scorpion when it stings a person.
92–96 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Revelation

References

"... The thought of signing and sealing runs through the whole of the apocalyptic literature. It is found as early as Ezekiel 9. There, God is making preparations for judgment. The day of the visitation of the city is at hand. But first the Lord calls to “the man clothed with linen who had the writer’s ink-horn by his side” and says to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the middle of the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done in its midst.” Only after that does he give those who are charged with the judgment the command to begin, adding, “But do not come near any man on whom is the mark” (Ezekiel 9:4 and 6) ... In the Apocalypse of John the notion of the sealing stands prominently in the foreground. The locusts receive power to hurt only those who have not the seal of God on their foreheads (Revelation 9:4, 5). The beast (Revelation 13:16ff.) compels men to bear his mark; only those who will not accept it are to reign with Christ (Revelation 20:4). But the chosen hundred and forty-four thousand bear the name of God and the name of the Lamb upon their foreheads (Revelation 14:1) ..."
Albert Schweitzer, “The Solution of Thoroughgoing Eschatology,” in The Historical Jesus in Recent Research, ed. James D. G. Dunn and Scot McKnight, SBTS (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2005), 6–49.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Ezekiel 9:4 and Revelation 9:4

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